The present disclosure relates to a gas turbine engine and, more particularly, to a combustor section therefor.
Gas turbine engines, such as those that power modern commercial and military aircraft, generally include a compressor section to pressurize an airflow, a combustor section to burn a hydrocarbon fuel in the presence of the pressurized air, and a turbine section to extract energy from the resultant combustion gases.
Among the engine sections, relatively significant temperatures are observed in the combustor section such that cooling may be required to obtain desired life requirements. In the combustor section, the two main heat transfer mechanisms from hot combustion gases to the combustor walls are convection and radiation. Radiation is mainly a bulk phenomenon driven by the chemical composition of the fuel, engine performance parameters such as compressor section exit temperatures and pressures, and the overall fuel-air mixture. Convection is a relatively more local phenomenon that is a function of the momentum characteristics of the combustion gases that are highly affected by the uniformity (or non-uniformity) of the fuel-air mixture since the local reacting characteristics may change, especially near the wall, where the combustion gases interact with the cooling airflows.